G Donald, as always, was the worst part of the course, in terms of both mud and general difficulty. It was starting to draw comparisons to the absolute mud hellhole of 2019. I was wearing toe condoms on my big toes only, having mainly blistered there previously. A sock and shirt change at the end of loop 3 was a big mental boost. Thanks to Liz for changing my socks, refiling my bladder, and grabbing my poles!
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📷 Agnes |
But I was having trouble mentally running even the downhills, and I was starting to feel hot spots on the smaller toes. I made the right decision to start out with the Xodus Ultra shoes, which had bigger lugs and more cushion than the UVPros. I thought the narrower toe box was possibly the cause of the blisters, so after loop 4, I went for the shoe change. There were some really nasty blisters on my middle and 4th toes. Eileen gingerly cleaned them with an alcohol wipe while I screamed bloody murder.
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foot first aid 📷 Eileen |
My dreams of a giant PB slipped away during the very slow fourth loop and slow turnaround. There were times when I wanted to quit after 50 miles, but the thought of finishing, when so many had dropped that day kept me going.
Unlike after my previous Sulphur 100K finish in 2017, when I promptly swore I'd never do this again and took a year to get over, I gotta do this again and then some in two short months at Tally 24 hour.